Surprising scorelines and big-name debuts were on tap in the debut weekend of some of Europe’s biggest leagues. The English Premier League and French Ligue 1 kicked off their seasons, the German and Spanish Super Cups dazzled, and, in Italy, the Coppa Italia provided competition down the pyramid.
Leicester City fans had to swallow a disappointing 2-1 loss to Hull City to open their English Premier League title defense. Leicester became the first defending champions to lose on opening weekend in the Premier League era and Hull the first newly promoted team to win their debut since 2012. The defending French champions had no such issue as Paris Saint-Germain dispatched SC Bastia, 1-0, in the managerial debut of Unai Emery.
Bayern Munich dispatched Borussia Dortmund, 2-0, in the DFL-Supercup, courtesy of two second-half goals from Arturo Vidal and Thomas Müller, as Carlo Ancelotti guided the team in his own competitive managerial debut.
In leg 1 of the Supercopa de España, Barcelona traveled to Sevilla and returned home with a 2-0 advantage thanks to Luis Suarez and Munir.
The Coppa Italia kicked off as well, with results going as expected except for two as Udinese found themselves unlikely upset victims in a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Spezia Calcio while Carpi fell to Perugia, 2-1.
Here’s a closer look at each league’s results:
ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
All eyes were on the unlikely defending champions Leicester City who provided a shock to everyone viewing.
Hull City were widely panned as the most unprepared team for their newly promoted season, with some pundits going as far as picking them to break Derby County’s all-time lowest point total record in a single season (11). But goals from Adama Diomandé and Robert Snodgrass were enough to overcome the defending champions, who only managed a penalty goal sandwiched in-between from Riyad Mahrez.
Elsewhere, Liverpool overcame shoddy defense in a high-scoring affair with Arsenal to win, 4-3, in the best match of the weekend.
SATURDAY
- Hull City 2-1 Leicester City
- Burnley 0-1 Swansea City
- Crystal Palace 0-1 West Bromwich Albion
- Everton 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
- Middlesbrough 1-1 Stoke City
- Southampton 1-1 Watford
- Manchester City 2-1 Sunderland
SUNDAY
- AFC Bournemouth 1-3 Manchester United
- Arsenal 3-4 Liverpool
MONDAY
- Chelsea vs. West Ham United
FRENCH LIGUE 1
Paris Saint-Germain did not encounter the same struggles as Leicester as they opened their title-defense with a contentious 1-0 victory.
Layvin Kurzawa scored the only goal of the match. SC Bastia managed to outshoot the French giants 10-9 despite losing the possession battle 73%-27%.
Monaco battled Guingamp to a 2-2 draw in the other Friday night match as they rallied from down, 2-0, with two late goals courtesy of Fabinho and Bernardo Silva. A disappointing result for Monaco against an opponent who finished 16th in Ligue 1 last season.
Lyon blasted themselves to the top of the table with a 3-0 clobbering of As Nancy Lorraine. All goals came from the feet of Alexandre Lacazette, who began the season with a bang as he recorded a hat-trick.
FRIDAY
- Bastia 0-1 Paris Saint-Germain
- AS Monaco 2-2 Guingamp
SATURDAY
- Bordeaux 3-2 St. Etienne
- Caen 3-2 Lorient
- Dijon FCO 0-1 Nantes
- Metz 3-2 Lille
- Montpellier 1-0 Angers
SUNDAY
- AS Nancy Lorraine 0-3 Lyon
- Nice 1-0 Stade Rennes
- Marseille 0-0 Toulouse
SPANISH SUPERCOPA DE ESPAÑA
It was a decisive 2-0 victory for Barcelona in leg 1 of the Spanish Super Cup over Sevilla.
Denis Suarez made an immediate impact in his return from Villarreal, lofting a ball into Arda Turan who gracefully laid it into the path of Luis Surarez who then smashed it home early in the second half. Lionel Messi showed that he was ready to bounce back from a difficult summer with Argentina, finding the run of Munir with a beautiful ball who scored the second for the Catalonia club.
Leg 2 will be at the Camp Nou in Barcelona on the 17th of August.
SUNDAY
- Sevilla 0-2 Barcelona
GERMAN DFL-SUPERCUP
The two German giants met once again in the DFL-Supercup for the third time in four years. This time it was Bayern Munich who took home the silverware over Borussia Dortmund, snapping their three year losing streak in the competition.
Dortmund had the better of the first half, having several opportunities but seizing none to leave the match at 0-0 entering the midway break. Bayern entered the second half a changed team and dominated proceedings, ultimately winding up on top via goals from Arturo Vidal and Thomas Müller.
SUNDAY
- Borussia Dortmund 0-2 Bayern Munich
ITALIAN COPPA ITALIA
With Serie A set to return this weekend, the Coppa Italia headlined the calcio this weekend in Italy. The results went largely as expected, with all Serie A teams in competition this weekend achieving victory with the exception of Udinese and Carpi. The 17th-place finishers in last year’s Serie A campaign lost 3-2 to Spezia Calcio of Serie B, while Carpi fell 2-1 to Serie B opponent Perugia.
FRIDAY
- Genoa 3-2 Lecce
- Bologna 2-0 Trapani
- Palermo 1-0 Bari
SATURDAY
- Udinese 2-3 Spezia
- Novara 1-0 Latina
- Perugia 2-1 Carpi
- Torino 4-1 Pro Vercelli
- US Pescara 2-0 Frosinone
- Atalanta 3-0 Cremonese
- Cesena 2-0 Ternana
- Chievo Verona 3-0 Virtus Entella
- Empoli 2-0 Vicenza
SUNDAY
- Salernitana 1(3)-(4)1 Pisa
- Hellas Verona 2-1 Crotone
- Sampdoria 2-0 Bassano
MONDAY
- Cagliari vs. Spal